The Hunger Games: Inuyasha Style
by yasha012
Summary: The Hunger Games, Inuyasha style. Starring: Sesshomaru and Kagome.
1. Prologue

**Author's Notes: IMPORTANT! I'm going to be changing many things from the book, but I'm still going to be using some original terms such as the country name.**

**Chapter One: Prologue**

_Long ago, there was a great war that wiped out most of the world. Many years later, Panem rose out of the ashes of a country once known as Japan. There were many disasters that befell the continent. Droughts, fires, storms, famines, floods, brutal wars for what little food remained. The end result was Panem, a bright and shining capitol ringed by thirteen districts._

_Then came the Dark Days. The uprising of the districts against the Capitol. Twelve were defeated, one was obliterated._

_The Treaty of Treason gave the remaining districts new laws to ensure peace. And, as their yearly reminder that the Dark Days must never be repeated, it created the Hunger Games. It was by far the most severe punishment of the uprising. _

_The rules of the game were simple. Each of the twelve remaining districts were required to provide two tributes, one boy and one girl, to participate. The twenty-four tributes, aged anywhere from twelve to nineteen, were imprisoned in a vast outdoor arena that could be anything from a scorching desert to a frozen tundra. Over a period of several weeks, the competitors were forced to fight to the death while also trying to survive the environment for the entertainment of the Capitol. _

_The last tribute alive wins._


	2. The Reaping

**Chapter Two: The Reaping**

Sesshomaru was a hunter. He used anything from a bow and arrow to a blade to take down his prey. Although hunting and owning weapons was technically illegal, the Peacekeepers in District Twelve were just as desperate for fresh meat as anyone else. They were among his best customers. He traded many of his catches for other things. Bread, cloth, sometimes things that were considered delicacies here. Like cheese. But only if he was lucky did he manage to get things like that. He mostly traded in the black market, but he also traded at people's back doors. Not everyone went to the black market, but many were willing to trade with him. And everything he didn't trade he kept for his family.

His family wasn't very big. It only consisted of him, his little brother, and his step mother. He'd never met his birth mother. All he knew was that his father had left her not long after he was born. When he was still a young child, his father took another wife. Her name was Izayoi. It didn't take long before they had their first and only child together. That child's name was Inuyasha. Sesshomaru was seven years older than him, but they'd never had much trouble getting along.

When Sesshomaru was eleven, their father died. He'd been killed in a mining accident. Blown to bits in an explosion. There was nothing left of him to bury. Izayoi wasn't the same after that. She just sat there, blank and unreachable, while her children were forced to fend for themselves. No amount of pleading from Inuyasha seemed to affect her. She wasn't like that anymore. She'd come back somehow. Too late, though. Sesshomaru tried to forgive her for his father's sake, but honestly, he wasn't really the forgiving type.

Sesshomaru opened his eyes. How long had he been asleep? A few hours, maybe. He never did get very much sleep. At least today there was an explanation for it. The Reaping was today. Inuyasha's first. He always tried to protect his brother in any way he could, but he was powerless against the Reaping. He silently climbed out of bed and looked over at the other bed. Inuyasha was sleeping there, curled up in his mother's arms. She was asleep too, and he saw no point and waking them. The Reaping wasn't until two, and the sun was barely beginning to come up. Without a sound, he exited their tiny house and headed for the meadow that led to the fence surrounding District Twelve. It was supposed to be electrified, but there was rarely electricity in the district. Except during the games.

He headed across the meadow and crawled through a hole near the base of the fence that was concealed by a thick cluster of bushes. Once he was through, he headed deeper into the woods. He collected his bow, arrows, and knife from where he'd hidden them before and began to hunt as usual. He was hoping to bring down something big, unlike the pathetic scrawny rodents he'd been catching recently. He ended up catching a couple meaty rabbits, and was almost tempted to thank the gods. Not that he believed in them. When he couldn't find any more animals, he turned to harvesting. He picked a large amount of wild strawberries, some nameless fruit from a tree, and was even lucky enough to get some honey from a beehive. He nearly got stung, but it was worth it. People in the black market always loved something sweet.

After a few hours, he his weapons again and headed to the gate once more. He crawled back through, pulling everything he'd collected through after him. He then headed for the black market. He kept the rabbits, but ended up trading everything else. Countless strawberries for a couple stale loaves of bread. The fruit for a decent amount of grain. The honey for a couple of oranges. He didn't particularly like oranges, but Inuyasha loved them. When he was finally done trading, he headed back home. Inuyasha and his mother were awake. Inuyasha and Sesshomaru went though the food together, and decided to save the oranges, one of the rabbits, and one of the loaves of bread for dinner.

"To make it special." Inuyasha said with a grin.

For breakfast, they each had some of the remaining loaf of bread and the other rabbit. Afterward, it was time get ready. Everyone was forced to dress in their best clothes, as if the Reaping were some kind of special occasion or a party. That was not the case. Today, innocent young people would be sent to their untimely and bloody deaths. Thankfully, this year was his last reaping, since he was nineteen. But Inuyasha… He pushed his thoughts away, not even wanting to think about it. At about one in the afternoon, everyone headed down to the town square. The Reaping was about to begin.

Attendance was mandatory. Camera crews were perched everywhere. People filed silently in. All potential tributes were herded into roped off areas separated by age. Oldest in the front, youngest in the back. Family members huddled around the perimeter. Izayoi stayed close to Inuyasha. Everyone focused their attention on the stage that had been set up in front of the Justice Building. There were three chairs, a podium, and two glass balls on two separate stands onstage. Girls on the left, boys on the right. The mayor and District Twelve's escort from the Capitol took two of the seats. Districts Twelve's only winner in history took the third.

When the clock finally struck two, the mayor stood up and approached the podium. As always, he told the history of Panem and recited the Treaty of Treason. He then introduced their only past winner, Hisako. Hisako gave a small nod, but said nothing. The mayor then introduced Kikyo, the female escort from the Capitol. Like every year, she was bright and bubbly as she approached the podium.

"Happy Hunger Games!" She exclaimed cheerily. "Ad may the odds be _ever_ in your favor!"

It was silent. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. The odds were _never_ in their favor. Not here. Not in this district. She continued to smile, however, seeming unfazed by the crowd's silence. It was time for the drawing. She walked over to one of the balls.

"As always, ladies first!" She said.

She reached in, dug around, and pulled out a slip of paper. She went back to the podium and unfolded it. She smiled and called out a name.

"Kagome Higurashi!"

His eyes flew to the right. She was there, in the same age group as him, her eyes shining with a mixture of shock and fear. She slowly walked over and climbed onto the stage. No one volunteered to take her place. If it weren't for the fact that the Reaping was basically a death sentence in disguise, he knew many people would have. Kagome was beloved by nearly everyone in the District. Even the ever-grouchy peacekeepers liked her. He did too honestly, but for an entirely different reason than everyone else. She was a skilled archer. She could hunt. She'd helped him feed his family before, and he'd helped feed hers. While they weren't exactly friends, they certainly weren't enemies. Soon, Kikyo was at the second ball, pulling him from his thoughts.

"And now for the boys!" She said, still smiling.

Just like before, she reached her hand in and dug around for a while before pulling out another slip of paper. It was deathly silent. She crossed back over to the podium, smoothed it out, and called out the name. It wasn't him.

_It was Inuyasha._

Sesshomaru was stunned. He couldn't move. Couldn't speak. Couldn't breathe. It wasn't until he saw his brother, his hands clenched into fists and the color drained from his face, taking slow, stiff steps toward the stage that he snapped back to reality.

"Inuyasha!" He yelled, and all heads toward him.

It was the first time many of them had heard him speak. People quickly, yet silently, made way for him as he rushed to his brother. He caught Inuyasha just as he was about to mount the steps. With one swoop of his arm, he pushed his brother behind him.

"I volunteer!" He said, his eyes flashing fiercely, as if daring someone to object.

No one did.

"Lovely!" Kikyo replied enthusiastically.

Inuyasha was screaming hysterically behind him. He latched onto Sesshomaru's arm and held on with all the strength he had.

"No brother, no! You can't go!" He cried.

"Inuyasha, let go." Sesshomaru said harshly.

"Everything was being televised. He couldn't afford to show how upset he was. Not here. He'd be marked as an easy target. A weakling. He couldn't let that happen. Not if he was ever going to come home…

"Let go!"

Suddenly, he felt someone prying his brother off of his arm. He turned and saw a sixteen year old boy, one he may have been acquainted with, picking his brother up off of the ground. Inuyasha was crying and thrashing in his arms.

"Up you go." The boy said gruffly before turning and carrying Inuyasha to his mother.

Sesshomaru steeled himself and climbed up onto the stage.

"Bravo!" Kikyo cheered. "Now this is more like it!"

It was clear that she was happy to finally see some action.

"And what's your name?" She asked him.

"Sesshomaru." He replied emotionlessly, not even bothering to look at her.

His eyes were locked on his brother, who was crying in his mother's arms. He was forced to look away when he and Kagome had to shake hands. They turned back to the crowd and the anthem of Panem played. The moment the anthem ended, they were whisked away into the Justice Building. They were each put in a separate room and left alone. He took a deep breath, calming in preparation for the next hour. That was all the time allowed for saying goodbye to loved ones. After about ten minutes, Inuyasha and his mother came in. Inuyasha was still crying. He broke away from his mother and climbed into Sesshomaru's lap. Sesshomaru wrapped his arms around him protectively while Izayoi sat down next to them. For a few minutes, it was silent. Then he began to tell them what they had to remember to do everyday, now that he couldn't be there to do it for them. After a few minutes of that, he turned to Izayoi and gripped her arm hard with his hand.

"Listen to me." He said seriously. "Are you listening?"

She nodded, alarmed by his sudden intensity. He was normally so calm…

"You can't leave again." He said.

She looked down guiltily.

"I know." She replied. "I won't. I couldn't help what-"

He cut her off.

"Well you have to help it this time!" He said. "You can't just clock out and leave him alone again! I won't be here to keep you both alive this time!"

She tore her arm away, suddenly becoming angry.

"I was _ill_." She said. "I could have treated myself if I'd had the medicine."

He knew the part her being ill before might have been true. He'd heard of chronic sadness and depression before. But it was an illness they couldn't afford.

"So take it and take care of him!"

"I'll be alright, brother." Inuyasha said, smiling weakly. "But you have to take care, too. You're so fast and strong… Maybe you can win."

Sesshomaru shrugged lightly.

"Maybe." He replied, not really believing it. "Then we'd be as rich as Hisako."

"I don't care if we get rich." Inuyasha said, tears forming in his eyes once more. "I just want you to come home."

Inuyasha wrapped his small arms around him in a small hug, and he hugged back.

"Promise me you'll try." Inuyasha said quietly. "Really, really try."

"I promise." Sesshomaru replied just as quietly.

Then a Peacekeeper came in, signaling that their time was up. He escorted them out and the door closed. No one else came to visit.


	3. Train Rides

**Chapter Three: Train Rides**

It was a short ride to the train station. Sesshomaru had never ridden on a train before, and honestly, he wasn't really looking forward to it. After all, _this_ train was taking him to the capitol To the Games. To his potential death. Not that he wouldn't go down fighting, of course. He just didn't think that his chances of winning were very high. After all, kids in District One, Two, and Three were trained their entire lives for the Games. The looked forward to them, enjoyed them, volunteered for them. Of course, training for the Games and owning weapons at all was supposed to be illegal, but the Capitol turned a blind eyes in those districts. They were, after all, the Capitol's lapdogs. People in District Twelve referred to them as the Careers. He didn't know why. All he knew was that that had been his district's name for them for many years.

The Careers, however, _did_ have a few weaknesses. For one thing, they didn't know how to be hungry, what it was like to miss even just one meal. Unlike Districts Five through Twelve. District Four, while not usually a Career District, was still better off than the other non-Career districts. Another weakness of the Careers was that their lust for blood sometimes got the better of them. They charged headfirst into battle, exercised no caution. Not only that, but they also had a tendency to distrust one another. The would form an alliance together at first, a Wolf Pack if you will. But they always turned on each other at the end. There were actually a few times were all the Careers killed each other, resulting in another district winning for once. Since the Careers didn't know how to go hungry, they often hoarded all of the food from the arena's Cornucopia for themselves. There was a couple of times were the Gamemakers destroyed their food supply, however. Other districts had won in those years.

The Gamemakers were the ones who prepared an arena for use during the Games. They were also the ones that controlled things such as weather, sunlight, temperature, the flow of water, and so on and so forth in the area. The also sometimes put horrible mutations created by the Capitol (Mutts, for short) in the arena to spice things up. The Cornucopia was a giant golden horn shaped like a cone with a curved tail at the end. The mouth of it was about twenty feet high, give or take. It was always spilling over with things that would give tributes life in the arena. Food, containers for water, weapons, medicine, clothes, fire starters, and more. Strewn around the Cornucopia were other supplies. Their value decreased the farther away they were from the horn. One of the bloodiest days of the Games is the opening day, known as The Bloodbath, where tributes fought over the items in and around the Cornucopia. The Capitol never collected the Bloodbath bodies until the fighting had stopped and the killers had dispersed. They didn't even fire the cannons until the fighting was over because it was too hard to keep track of the casualties. Each shot represented a dead tribute. They collected the bodies using one of the many hovercrafts. They then removed any weapons that were still in the body, cleaned the body of all the blood and gore, redressed it in clean, fresh clothes, and then shipped the body back to it's home district in a simple simple, sealed wood coffin. He just hoped that the same would never happen to him.

He and Kagome had to stand in the doorway for a few minutes while the cameras took countless pictures of them. When it was finally over, they were allowed to go inside. The doors shut behind them and the train began moving at once. It was one of the Capitol's fastest train models. It averaged about two-hundred fifty miles an hour. It would take less than a full day to get to the Capitol. The train was even fancier than the room in the Justice Building, and that was tghe fanciest room he'd ever seen. They were each given their own room, complete with a large bathrooms, closets, dressing areas, and hot and cold running water. There was no running water in District Twelve, and the only way to get hot water was if someone boiled it. This simple luxury almost made him wish that he'd been born in the Capitol. That wish quickly faded, however. He hated the Capitol. Hated the way they flaunted their power and superiority over the districts. Hated the way they killed innocent children, just to prevent an uprising that happened so long ago that no one alive currently had been there to witness it.

"Be ready for dinner in an hour!" Kikyo said as she exited his temporary room.

Pushing his thoughts away, he went into the bathroom, practically tore off the stupid looking fancy clothes he'd been forced to wear, and took a long, hot shower. It was kind of nice, actually, but it didn't help to calm his sudden fierce anger at the Capitol. When he as done, he dried off with a towel and went into the dressing room. There was a large dresser there, and he pulled out a solid black outfit that he rather liked. A shirt with long sleeves, ankle length pants, black socks, even black shoes made out a comfortable material that he couldn't name. Good for running in. Almost as soon as he was done, Kikyo knocked on the door and called him to dinner. He hesitated for a moment before following her out. They walked through a corridor and into the dining room. It had polished panel walls that never failed to shine and a glossy floor he could see his reflection in. There was a table in the center of the room, and there were many highly breakable fancy dishes sitting on it. Kagome was already sitting there, and the seat next to her was empty. Kikyo sat across from her, and he guessed that Hisako would probably want to sit next to her. Sighing inwardly, he took a seat next to Kagome.

"Where's Hisako?" Kagome asked.

"I believe he said he went to take a nap." Kikyo replied. "The man's drunk, I'm sure."

No one replied, and soon dinner was being served. It was served in courses, and Kikyo kept reminding them to save room because there was more to come. He could barely resist completely stuffing himself, though. He'd never had such good food, let alone had so much to eat before. It was wonderful. He had extremely sensitive senses, as did all demons, so even his sense of taste was acute. He was more than able to appreciate good tasting food.

"At least you two have decent table manners." Kikyo commented as they were finishing the main course. "The kids from last year at with their hands like a couple of savages. It was horrid."

The two tributes from the year before were a couple of kids who had literally _never_ had enough to eat. Clearly when they _did_ have food, manners were the last thing on their minds. Kagome's mother knew about manners, and had taught her well. It was the same with him and his step mother. He hated Kikyo's comment so much, he thought about making a point of eating the rest of his meal with his hands like they had. He ended up not needing to, however, because Kagome did just that. When she was finished, she wiped her hands on the tablecloth. Kikyo was not amused. Once everyone was finished eating, they went into another room to watch a recap of all the reapings. They were all crammed together, trying to shorten an all day long process into a few hour long show.

"Your mentor has a lot to learn about presentation and televised behavior." Kikyo muttered. "He should have at least _said_ something!"

"He might have been drunk." Kagome said laughing a bit.

Hisako was well known in the black market, simply because he went there to buy alcohol so often.

"He's drunk nearly every year." She said.

"Every day." he added, unable to stop himself from smirking just a bit.

"How odd that you two find this so amusing." Kikyo practically snarled. "Your mentor is your lifeline in the Games. The one who advises you, trains you, lines up your sponsors, and decides who gets what gifts, if any! He could very well be the difference between you life or death!"

Just then, Hisako stumbled into the room.

"I miss supper?" He said in a severely slurred voice.

Almost as soon as he was done speaking, he vomited all over the expensive carpet in the doorway where he was standing. He wobbled a bit, then fell into the mess.

"So go ahead and laugh away!" Kikyo said angrily.

She pulled up her dress, hopped around the mess in her high-heeled shoes, and fled the room.


End file.
